Gregg Popovich doesn't follow the NFL closely, but he saw the news Monday.

Seven head coaches were fired before lunch?

Popovich shook his head. The day fit into his belief that coaches are at the mercy of circumstances.

When asked how he has avoided the same, he shrugged and repeated what he has said for years. “I avoided it by being clever enough to draft Tim Duncan,” he said.

There was a time when many nodded and said, yes, circumstances made Popovich what he is. Even when he was winning championships, there was a sense he had fallen into it.

But 2012 took him to a different place, and the Year of Pop ended Monday the same way.

The Year of Pop ended in a hallway, joking with players. He kidded Tony Parker, for example, that practice was early the morning after New Year's Eve. Parker told Popovich, well, he might not be able to make it.

Then, asked about the NFL, Popovich hesitated. “You think I can figure that out?”

He tried. He knew enough about Andy Reid, for example, to say: “This is a helluva coach. Everybody knows he's a helluva coach. The people who fired him know that. But this confluence of circumstances happens to almost every one of us at some point. Then, you're the one who has to go.”

Popovich knows from experience. He was one more loss, perhaps two, from being the one who had to go in 1999. Peter Holt needed support for a new arena, and an unproven, unpopular coach wasn't helping.

That first championship season saved Popovich's career, and the following titles added layer upon layer of stability. But even after all of that, maybe he's never been more respected than he is now.

Being the league's Coach of the Year in 2012 helped, as did his record. Including the playoffs, he was 82-23 in the calendar year.

The two coaches who currently have a better record than Popovich, Scott Brooks and Vinny Del Negro, don't compare in status or longevity. “I want some nasty” didn't win a trophy, but it inspired everything from T-shirt sales to an Israeli rap video. And then there was the rare Spurs controversy, when David Stern fined the franchise after Popovich sent four starters home before a game against the Miami Heat.

Support for Popovich was overwhelming from other coaches to other players.

But mostly his peers love how the Spurs play, with equal parts cohesion and versatility and discipline. Popovich has built a system unique to the league.

“When you have success,” P.J. Carlesimo said Monday, “everyone tries to copycat it. This one's a hard one to copycat.”

Carlesimo, like Avery Johnson before him with the Nets, faces the usual pitfalls that bring down coaches. Some work in divided front offices, some with obstinate personnel. Popovich has found a way to eliminate all of it.

As for Duncan: While he remains the core of the Spurs, what Popovich has done goes far beyond one draft.

The final game of 2012 showed everything. When Duncan ended the first half with a risky bounce pass to Manu Ginobili that resulted in a turnover, Popovich rose from his seat and barked in disgust.

And after the Spurs outscored the Nets 30-5 in the third quarter? Popovich trudged to midcourt without expression to talk with his staff.

It's the walk of a coach who is past the usual coaching dangers. Popovich has never been fired from a job, and he never will be.

Popovich has become the longest-tenured coach with the same team among the four major pro sports. He will leave on his terms, no matter the confluence of circumstances, and for now he will leave for Milwaukee.